COVID-19 Why no social distancing? (Colorado Springs, Center: buy, tenant, clubhouse)

[BornintheSprings]

I have a hard time believing China's numbers. Theres no way they have less deaths than Italy.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by TCHP

... Has anyone wondered why so much of the European reporting has centered on Italy and Not Germany? Italy is the oldest population in Europe, but Germany is number 2. Why aren't people dying at record levels there? Well, simple answer is they are testing relentlessly,Tthey know who has it, how to isolate them, and how to disposition those cases that are the worst. Their mortality rate is a fraction of their neighbors, despite having an aged population because they better know the distribution of the virus within their population.

The NY Times has an article detailing the German approach to this.

Excerpts: "Germany, it seems, is not immune to the ravages of the pandemic. Except in one way: Very few people seem to be dying. As of Saturday, of the 56,202 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, just 403 patients have died. That’s a fatality rate of 0.72 percent. By contrast, the current rate in Italy — where over 10,000 people have died — is 10.8 percent. In Spain, it’s 8 percent. Over twice as many people have died in Britain, where there are around three times fewer cases, than in Germany. ... First and foremost: Early and persistent testing helps. And so does tracking people. ... Germany has also been better at protecting its older residents, who are at much greater risk. States banned visits to the elderly, and policymakers issued urgent warnings to limit contact with older people. Many seem to have quarantined themselves. The results are clear: Patients over the age of 80 make up around 3 percent of the infected, though they account for 7 percent of the population."

Germany has to be aggressive in this, they have 84M people in a nation just a bit smaller than size of Montana, i.e., the density could be a killer if the virus gets out of control.

[mollygee]

Originally Posted by BornintheSprings

Theres no freedom if your're dead.

Good one. Polis said, "no arrests, but there is the Grim Reaper." So sad that so many are dying. Hope does seem to be on the way. If we can just be calm and know that tests are being done for a cure or meds to help people live.

I am trying to be positive; but someone tells me to stay home and I just want to run out; whoops, there is nothing open. I really miss the library. I dug out some old paperbacks, yesterday. Now, reading a Stephen King oldie. Scary, but does keep my mind off of our crisis for awhile.

So much to be done around the old place. Just need some ambition. Just need to start. Well, stay safe and keep in touch with those you care about.

[Vision67]

Social distancing isn't working.

My neighbors, who are in their early 60s, just had their kids and grand kids show up from out of town for the Easter Weekend.

I expect that's happening all over.

[Mike from back east]

I've merged some threads, changed titles, and made them 'stickies' to keep things manageable and for the sake of people finding the info they seek.

Please try and keep COVID-19 posts in these main threads. New threads really need to be specific and finite aspects; I may merge them as I feel best.

There's a COVID-19 scientific thread for factual data. It is now in the Current Events forum but as we manage the mass of COVID-19 posts it may actually end up in the Science and Technology forum.

There's a COVID-19 General Thread now in the Current Events forums.

There's a COVID-19 Humor Thread in the Other Topics forum.

There are COVID-19 threads galore in the Politics & Other Controversies forum for those who don't mind walking in the muck.

Thank you.

[mtngigi]

There's a humor thread? I don't think I'll look at that one.

[dr.frog]

Originally Posted by mtngigi

There's a humor thread? I don't think I'll look at that one.

"A man must sometimes laugh at himself or go mad," said he. "Few realize it. That is why there are so many madmen in the world." -- Rafael Sabatini in "Captain Blood"

This is a grim time, where many of us are going through deep trauma due to ourselves or our loved ones facing sickness and death, or from being on the front lines in the overburdened hospitals and emergency-management offices. Our society is changing in ways that aren't necessarily good and that highlight the inequalities between us. We're all facing the future with uncertainty, especially people who have lost their jobs or businesses, or who have seen their retirement savings go down the drain. People are going a little stir-crazy from the disruption in their lives, from having their kids underfoot 24x7, from the new social norms of shopping, etc. If being able to laugh at ourselves once in a while helps to keep people sane.... I'm all for it.

[MillennialUrbanist]

Originally Posted by dr.frog

"A man must sometimes laugh at himself or go mad," said he. "Few realize it. That is why there are so many madmen in the world." -- Rafael Sabatini in "Captain Blood"

So true. Just consider Jewish humor. Much of it is self-deprecating in nature, including poking fun at the usual stereotypes. Although per social norms, for the most part, only Jewish comedians tell those kinds of jokes, with most listeners being Jewish too.

Pesach sameach to those celebrating.

Back on topic. Just how hard-hit is Colorado Springs and Colorado in general? I don't hear much about Intermountain West states. The mainstream news media focuses mostly on New York and California.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist

Back on topic. Just how hard-hit is Colorado Springs and Colorado in general? I don't hear much about Intermountain West states. The mainstream news media focuses mostly on New York and California.

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html This map is updated daily. It looks like El Paso County has over 500 cases and 35 deaths so far.

[dr.frog]

Here's a link to the official state health department info.

https://covid19.colorado.gov/case-data

El Paso county now ranks 6th in the number of cases in the state, behind Denver and its suburban counties, + Weld (due to the bad outbreaks in Greeley?). For a while we were at #2 so the infection is spreading more slowly here now than in those other counties. They used to have something on that web site showing the infection rate per 100K residents by county, which I thought was more interesting than the actual number of infections, but that seems to have disappeared from recent updates.

I saw something on the UCHealth web site (I think) the other day that their hospitals are keeping up with the influx of COVID-19 patients, so far -- they have adequate stocks of PPE and are not rationing ventilators or ICU beds.